Apparatus for removing gummy matter from oil-wells



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APPARATUS FOIf QM -YUXG No. 403,183.

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UNITED SnATEs PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN P. FIRTH, OF TITUSVILLE, PENNSYLVANIA.

APPARATUS FOR REMOVING GUMMY MATTER FROM OIL-WELLS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 403,183, dated May 14, 1889.- Applieation filed Jctober 22, 1888. Serial No. 288,763. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN P. FIRTH, of Titusville, in the county of Crawford and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Removing Gummy Matter from Oil-Wells, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

The object of the invention is ,to provide new and improved methods and means for effectively removing the gummy matter and other substances accumulating on oil-rock, thereby permitting a free flow of oil from the rock, and consequently increasing the prod uction of the well.

The invention consistsof a receptacle having openings and held to slide in the rock, being connected by a conducting-pipe with a steam or other supply, so as to discharge the steam, &c., on the oil-rock.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 isa side elevation of the improved means as applied. Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional side elevation of the receptacle and its connections. Fig. 3 is a sectional plan View of the same. Fig. 4c is a like view of the same in a modified form, and Fig. 5 is an enlarged sectional side elevation of another modified form of the same. i

In the oil-well A is held the usual tubing, B, connected at its upper end with the pumping mechanism 0, of any approved construction, and serving to pump the oil from the bottom of the oil-well A to a convenient tank. On the tubing B in the oil-rock strata is held to slide Vertically a receptacle, D. connected by an upwardly-exten dinpipe, E, with a flexible tube, F, connected by a pipe, G, with a tank, I-I,'containing benzine or other fluid, or the said pipe G may be connected with asteamboiler.

The receptacle D may be made of various shapes and forms, as illustrated in Figs. 2, 3, 4, and 5. I prefer, however, the construction shown in Figs. 2 and 8, in which the exterior shell of the receptacle D is perforated, and a pipe, D, passes vertically through the receptacle and is secured to the top and bottom of .For this purpose the said receptacleand forms a bearing for the tubing B, which passes through the said pipe D.

In the modification shown in Fig. ii: the receptacle D is of halfanoon shape and the tubing B fits into the inner surface of the halfmoon, so as to hold the receptacle D loosely on the tubing B. i

In the modification shown in Fig. 5 the exterior cylindrical shell of the receptacle is not perforated; but the bottom D of the receptacle is somewhat lower than the lower edge of the shell, so as to form an opening through which the fluid can be discharged from the receptacle.

The upper end of the supply-pipe E is c0nnected with a suitable mechanism for raising and lowering said pipe E. struction shown in Fig. l, in which the upper end of the pipe E is connected with one end of a rope, 1, extending upward and passing over a pulley, .I', mounted to rotate at the top of the usual derrick, K, erected over the oilwell A. The rope I then extends downward from the pulleyJ to the drum of the Windlass L, which serves to raise or lower the pipe E and the receptacle D in the oil-roek strata.

When the flow of the oil-Well A decreases, the oil-bearing rock is clogged up at the entrance to the well A by gummy matter or other substance,

steam, benzine, or other fluid at the top of the latter from the tank H or from a steam-boiler, so that the steam, benzine, or other substance passes through openings in the receptacle 1) onto the oil-bearing rock with considerable force, thereby removing the accumulated gummy matter from the rock. As the oilbearing strata is usually from ten to fifty feet in height, I move the receptacle D up and down the entire strata, so that the steam or oil is thrown on all parts of the oil-rock strata in the well A. I may employ any desired means, but prefer the construction shown and described.

In order to move the receptacle I) up and down, I set the Windlass in motion forward and backward, so that the rope I raises and lowers the supply-pipc E, supporting at its and in order to remove thisgummy matter I charge the receptacle D with height of the oil-bearing- I prefer the con- I lower end the receptacle D. The flexible tube F permits this up-aud-down movement of the pipe E without interrupting the supply of steam or other fluid from the tank II or boiler.

Having thus fully described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. An apparatus for removing gummy matter from oil-wells, comprising a receptacle to enter the bore of the well and having a lat eral discharge, and a vertically-movable pipe on the lower end of which said receptacle is suspended in the well, substantially as setforth.

2. In an oil-well, the combination, with the I 5 tacle with steam, benzine, or other substances, 20

substantially as shown and described.

JOHN P. FIRTH.

\Vitnesses:

J. J. HOLDEN, GEO. P. BROOKWAY. 

